This invention relates to a data processing device in which a data item is designated from a plurality of data items shown on a display of an output device and processed according to a preset procedure. For example, a word processor having a function of deletion or replacement of one of displayed words is one possible application of the invention.
In a conventional data processing device, the designation of a desired data item, e.g. a word, from a plurality of data items shown on the display means is performed by manually inputting the data item from the keyboard or by pointing the starting point and the ending point of the data item on the display.
In an improved word processor, a desired word can be designated by simply placing a cursor on one of the letters of the desired word.
When a combination of two data items (two words) is desired to designate in order to process them at the same time according to the preset procedure, however, the method of the improved word processor is incompetent: only one data item can be designated at one time by the method. In such a time, the two data items had to be manually input from the keyboard or the starting point and the ending point of them had to be pointed on the display.